Have you ever wondered what difference a day can make? How much can REALLY change in just one short day? Sometimes it seems like things will NEVER change, that even the changes we want to happen are ages away. Certainly nothing we do in a day will make them come faster. Yet in reality, all it takes is a day, one day to make a lifetime of changes.

Two weeks ago I was finishing up my clinical work for my degree in communication disorders and looking for a part-time CFY (clinical fellowship -- essentially a paid internship that is required for speech pathologists to get their full licensure). The year ahead of me was supposed to consist of working part-time while working on my dissertation the remainder of the time. The goal was to graduate with my PhD in May. There was a plan in place, but there were a lot of unknowns. Like would I be able to find a part-time job, would I be able to propose my dissertation in time to be running subjects in the fall, would I be able to FIND subjects, would the project work, would I really meet my deadline, would my advisor and I be able to work past our differences and have a productive year. Yeah, that's a lot of unknowns. Plus, even though there was a plan, it was only a one-year plan. Scott and I really had no idea what would happen in May -- where we would be, what we would be doing. Even though technically we were both only a year away from graduating, we still seemed to be floating in an abyss -- and we simply couldn't see the light at the end. The light that meant we could finally start our lives as adults, that we could start doing the things our friends were doing -- holding permanent and meaningful jobs, buying a house, starting a family. We couldn't plan for any of it at the moment, and it seemed as though that was never going to change. But then, it did. And all it took was one day.

After lots of thinking and lots of talking with Scott I decided that the uncertainty I was imposing on our lives wasn't worth the possibility that I would walk away with my PhD in May. The reality of that happening just didn't seem all that great. And in the end, did I really need that PhD to achieve my goals, or did I just want the letters behind my name because of what I thought they stood for? Well, after being out in the field for the past year and seeing the amazing therapists out there and being exposed to all of the things going on outside of academia I discovered that "no" I don't need those letters. I can make a significant difference in the lives of people without a PhD -- with "just" a master's. I discovered that there isn't any such thing as "just" a masters -- that you can make whatever you want out of the degree you have. But what exactly did that mean for our lives, that decision to walk away from the PhD? Well, it meant stability. It meant that I knew where I was going to be for the next year, and that I didn't have to look for somewhere else to go when that year was up. We could stay in one place as long as we wanted. It meant we could start that life that was waiting for us. All it would take was one day.

That day I sent out more resumes for my CFY -- only this time I was looking for a full-time position. The next day I went down to BG to tell them about my decision. On my way there I received a call from one of the clinics I had sent my resume to the day before -- she wanted to know if I could come in for an interview that afternoon. Despite the fact that I was on the road and would be going to the interview on my way home -- in jeans ... I said yes. By the end of the day I had a job offer (contingent on my references saying good things about me :)) with a clinic that would allow me to work at least two days a week in a school for autism. I had been handed my dream job. All it took was one day.

At the same time Scott and I decided that if we were going to stay in Monroe for a while, that we would start looking for homes. We got in touch with a realtor we had met at an open house (we were looking at homes well before this decision was made -- just for "fun") and told her we were on the market seriously now and would like to see some homes. We spent two weekends looking at houses (one weekend for each set of parents :)), and on Saturday, we found the one we wanted. Sunday we went to look at it again and decided to put in an offer. Monday we were signing a purchase agreement. All it took was one day.

So here we are, two weeks after that first day when the decision was made to make a change and the path of our lives has drastically changed. And now we can see where the path is going -- we're not floating anymore and we are SO happy about that. Nervous, but happy. Things have moved very quickly and it's mind-boggling to think that in just a little more than a month we'll be living in our very own home. I never would have thought that would be the case just a few short weeks ago, but all it took was one day.